Coat retainer



June 1e, '1953 y l, R ANG v2,642,210

I COAT RETAINER Filed Kpril 2e, 1951 @ven/10x cfvazz 7;? Zw

Patented June 16, 1953 UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE 7 Claims.

My invention consists of an elongated piece of material that is adaptedto be secured to the button of a coat at one end and the button hole ofa coat at the other end to hold the same in an unnaturally snug positionon a coat hanger.

When coats are placed on hangers in cleaning establishments and the likeafter they have been cleaned and pressed, they are frequently stilldamp. A damp garment may not hold exactly the press imparted to itunless it is aided in some manner. Perhaps the most frequent distortionoccurs when the lapels roll down farther than the roll given to them bythe presser. Some means of avoiding this unsatisfactory alteration ofthe press of the garment is highly desirable. Metal devices forachieving this end have been conceived but seldom used because of theexcessive expense involved in using metal. A structure devised to solvethe above problem without requiring the use of metal would appear to Abeparticularly desirable.

A further diiculty encountered by cleanin establishments occurs whencoats are delivered. The garments are vusually hung on hangers.Frequently a paper wrapper surrounds the garment s that it is notreadily visible to a person handling it. It is also not uncommon for thegarment to become disarranged on the hanger. Be-

cause the garments vare covered, the disarray is' not apparent.

The trucks used by cleaners in delivering gartrucks to permit a singledelivery run to do the maximum amount of work. When the garments arecrowded together, any disarray of the garments is pressed into thegarments by the close proximity of other garments or the walls of thevehicle. It is obviously important to hold the garment on the hangersquarely and snugly, therefore, to avoid any "pressing into the garmentof unsightly wrinkles or the like that result from the garment not beingheld squarely o the hanger.

It is even possible for coats, particularly single breasted ones, tocome completely ofi the hanger on which they are hung by reason of notbeing securely held thereon. If a coat falls off a hanger', of course,it may become soiled to the point' of necessitating recleaning withaccompanying loss of human time and eifort and iinancial loss'to thecleaning establishment. What may be even more damaging to the cleaningestablishment would be the unfortunate election by a route man to try topass the soiled garment to the customer without returning it to theplant for a second cleaning. It may also be that the garmentis neededbythe customer and there is not time for a recleaning and also use bythe customer as of some predetermined time agreed upon by the cleanersand the customer when the coat was sent to be cleaned. It is obvious,therefore, that if a means can be provided inexpensively that will holdcoats on hangers and prevent unsightly distorting of lapels and pressresulting from disarray; it would be highly desirable and welcomed bythose engaged in the art of dry cleaning and pressing. y

Another factor that must be taken into consideration when devising acoat retainer is the time and eiort that may -be necessary in the use ofthe retainer. In order for the retainer to be useful, it must be quickand easy to use or the labor cost in using it will be excessive. If itis diilicult or complex to use or requires any exercise of judgment,employees will be loathto .use it.- Unless the retainer is usedconsistently, Vits value will be minimized or even totally destroyed. Asa matter of fact, if the retainer is used by some of the employees in anestablishment and not by others, delivery personnel may get a falsesense of security by believing that most ofthe coats have retainers.Such a belief may lead the delivery personnel to handle the coatssomewhat more recklessly than otherwise. l

vln view of the foregoing, it is the principal object of my invention toprovide a coat retainer that will hold a coat .more snugly on a Wirehanger than Would be the case i1 it were merely buttoned thereon.

It is a further object of my invention to pro-l vide a coat retainerthat prevents the lapels of a coat on a hanger from rolling down.

It is a furtherr object of my invention to provide a coat retainer thataids in preventing the disarray of a coat on a hanger as it is beinghandled.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a coat retainer thatwill insure that the coat will be retained on the hanger as it is binghandled.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a coat retainer thancan be made from inexpensive material.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a coat retainer thatis so -obvious in use for the personnel who are to use the device.

hole and the means for securing my coat retainer thereto,

Fig. 3 is a reduced view of my coat retainer holding a single breastedcoat on a hanger. Hidden portions of the right front of the coat and. f

portions of my retainer are shown with broken lines, and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of my retainer inoperative-positionV on a coat and'taken onthe line I-4 of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, I have used the numeral II to indicate myretainer generally which is made from a nat piece of material such ascardboard or the like. A flap or locking member designated I I is formedby merely folding one end of the retainerback upon the main body thereofas shown inthe drawings. The flap II has .an unbalanced V orcheck-shaped cut I2 t=herein,.the longer legY of which is formed at anangle to the longitudinal axis of the retainer for a reason which willbemade clear hereinafter. A tab I3 is stamped out of the retainer bodyat a point that causes its upper portion, designated I by the dottedline in Fig.. l, to register with the cut I2. There is a hookingshoulder I4 formed on the upper part of the tab the purpose of whichwill be explained below.

In the body of the retainer'is formed a zigzag or saw tooth like slotdesignated I5 thatextends downwardly and away from its starting pointnear the flap and tab. This completes the description of the structureof my device and I turn now to a description of the use or operation ofmy device.

In order to hold a coat such as the single breasted one designated bythe numeral I6 in Fig. 3 on a hanger designated Il, the slot I5 is firstengaged with a button I8 of the coat that is just at the base of -thelapelsas formed during the pressing operation. Where thebutton of thecoat is placed in the slot is not too material :as will be shown,hereinafter, but a person of any intelligence will soonlearn about'whereto insert the buttonwith regard to a particular garment- The edge oft-he coat that has the button holes in it is then brought acrossthe'retainer far enough to'cause the buttonhole I9 of coat I6 to align iwith the tab I3. The tab is then inserted through the button *hole I9.To hold the button hole securely to the retainer, flap II is folded overthe edge of the coat and tab I3 is started through the check-shaped cutI2 as shown in Fig. 2. As the flap II is pushed flat against the coat,the tab I3 goes clear through the cut I2 until'-l shoulder I4 engagesthe edge of cut I2 as shown in Fig. 3. The diagonal direction of thecutI2 causes a downward or flattening force to be exerted on tab I3after it has been pushed entirely through cut I2. This fiattening of thetab I3 holds it in Aa position to minimize the likelihood of itscatching on other garments adjacent a retainerfequipped coat on a rack.OnceV the retainer is thus secured at both ends, itis a relatively easymatter for the operator to then adjust the coat with regard to theretainer by forcing the button retaining threads along slot I5 closer orfarther from the tab end of the retainer. The zigzag character of theslot I5 resi-sts such movement of the coat but does not resistsuiiiciently to overcome intentional movement of the button therein.Obviously it is not necessary to locate the button exactly in the slot-I5 to produce the correct amount of tension on the coat since the properadjustment may be made readily after the retainer is mounted. As waspointed out earlier, however, anyone of reasonable intelligence willsoon learn to locate the button in the approximately correct positionfor a given size of garment.

It should be clear by the foregoing that I have devised a structure thatis susceptible of being T-'aashoulder formed thereon to engage the edgeof Y made from materials other than metal which is very satisfactory forholding a coat more snugly about'a hanger than could be true from merelybuttoning the coat thereon. It should also be apparent that little or notime would be lost in using the device and that personnel would not,therefore, be discouraged from using it. The amount of time consumed inusing the device would not be so excessive as to negative the benefitsthat flow from its use either.

. Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of mycoat retainer without departing from the real spirit and purpose of myinvention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims, any modifiedforms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may bereasonably included within their scope.

I claim:

l. In a coat retainer, an elongated body member, a tab near one end ofsaid body member for entering thebutton hole of a coat, a flap adjacentsaid tab; said flap having a check-shaped Y cut therein; said flap andsaid cut constructed and arranged to have said cut register with theportion of said tab that is secured to said body member when said flapis folded back upon the body member of said retainer, and a saw toothshaped slot for engaging the button retaining member of Aa coat tofrictionally hold the button against unintentional movement with respectto said retainer; said saw tooth shaped slot being elongated andoperating effectively. through its length; said saw tooth shaped slotextending away from said tab.

2. Ina garment retainer, an elongated body of a at piece of material, aflap formed by bending a `portion of said ilat piece of material backupon itself; said flap having ak cut therein, a tabk formed on the partof said body that lies under said flap and secured to said body at apoint registering with the cut in said flap when said flap is foldedflat against said body, and a saw tooth shaped opening cut in saidelongated body and extending longitudinally of said body from a pointnear said flap and tab and near one edge of said elongated body to apoint a substantial distance from said flap and tab and near the otheredge of said elongated body.

3. In a garment retainer, an elongated body of a dat piece of material,a flap formed by bending a portion of said flat piece of material backupon itself; said flap having a cut therein, a. tab

formed on the part of said body that lies under said flap and secured tosaid body at a point registering with the cut in said nap when said flapis folded at against said body; said tab having said cut and prevent theaccidental disengagement of said tab from the cut in said flap, and asaw tooth shaped opening cut in said elongated body and extendinglongitudinally of said body from a point near said ilap `and tab andnear one edge of said elongated body to a point a substantial distancefrom said ap and tab and near the other edge of said elongated body.

4. In a garment retainer, 'an elongated body of a iiat piece ofmaterial, a flap formed by bending a portion of said flat piece ofmaterial back upon itself; said flap having a check-shaped cut therein;said check-shaped cut having its long leg extending downwardly andtoward the body of said retainer, -a tab formed on the part of said bodythat lies under said flap and secured to said body at a pointregistering with the cut in said ap when said iiap is folded flatagainst said body, and a saw tooth shaped opening cut in said elongatedbody and extending longitudinally of said body from a point near saidilap and tab and near one edge of said elongated body to a point asubstantial distance from said flap and tab and near the other edge ofsaid elongated body.

5. In a garment retainer, an elongated body of a at piece of material, aiiap formed by bending a portion of said flat piece of material backupon itself, said nap having a check shaped cut therein, a tab formed onthe portion of said body that underlies said flap; said tab secured tosaid body at a. point registering with the cut in said iiap when saidflap is folded flat against said body, and a means for securing a buttontoL said body at a substan-tial distance from said flap.

6. In a garment retainer, an elongated body of a nat piece of material,a flap formed by bend--V ing a portion of said at piece of material backupon itself; said nap having a cut therein, a tab formed on the part ofsaid body that lies under said flap and secured Ito saidI body at apoint registering with the out in said flap when said flap is folded natagainst said body, and a saw tooth shaped cut extending from a pointnear said tab and flap and one side of said body toward the opposite endand side of said body.

7. In a garment retainer, a flat elongated piece of material, a apformed'by bending a portion of said piece of material back upon itself,a saw tooth shaped slot extending substantially longitudinally of saidpiece of material nearits lateral center and spaced from said flap, anda ltab secured to the part of said piece of material over which saidflap lies; said flap having a cut therein through which said tab isinserted to secure saidV ap against the balance of said nat elongatedpiece of material.

IVAN R. LANG.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

